Tallahassee Newschannel 27’s Sports Director Preston Scott took time out of his busy schedule this week to give a brief media workshop to the Florida State women’s basketball team in preparation for the program’s media day on Friday, October 26, as well as for the upcoming 2001-02 season.

Scott spoke to the team about the importance of being patient, listening to questions and not assuming what a reporter is going to ask, having good eye contact and body language, being personable and being yourself.

“Anytime the kids get a chance to interact with the media, they are in essence recruiting for the school,” Scott said. “They are becoming ambassadors for Florida State women’s basketball and so it’s really important that they understand first the impact that they can have in drawing future kids to the program and also attracting attention which basically translates into financial support for the program.

“If people see a well-spoken young lady out there playing hard and giving it her all on the court and then goes around and shakes hands and high-fives everybody, you win fans that way. So, this is an invaluable opportunity to get ready for what happens with the scrutiny that comes with the media.”

During Scott’s presentation, the team had an opportunity to review and critique post game video from the Florida State-Miami football game. After the discussion, each women’s basketball player went through her own mock interview, which was videotaped. The players will have the opportunity to review the video with sports information prior to Friday’s media day.

“I thought this was real beneficial,” sophomore Tasheika Morris said. “It was good practice. Later on, we’ll get to look at it (interview video) and critique it and it will help us in the future whenever we’re talking to the media. What he said really made sense like having good eye contact, respecting the media and reminding us that the media are our friends, because sometimes they can be portrayed otherwise.”

After last season’s success, the FSU women’s basketball program is enjoying even more media coverage, making the media workshop of even greater importance. The Seminoles will appear on television seven times during the regular season this year and will have 18 games aired live on WFLA AM 1270 radio. Last year, the squad appeared on television 11 times, including three games in the postseason. FSU’s game vs. Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament was shown live on ESPN2.

“Off the court, this is a great group of young ladies,” Scott said. “All of them have their own preconceived ideas of what working with the media is supposed to be like, so I think they are going to, over time, evolve to what it’s really like versus what they thought it was like. And in that, they’ll find their comfort zone.”